Image Quality

Image Quality

Document Print and Copy Quality

Below are crops of the MFC-J6910DW's document print and copy outputs. The font used was Arial at size 12. As mentioned in the previous page, the default quality setting (Normal) was used. When printing the document that consisted only of pure black text, the grayscale setting was chosen, so that only the black ink was used. Note that for many printers, color inks may be used even when printing black text or graphics. This is often done to improve print quality and longevity. Copy results from both the ADF and the scanner glass were shown as well.

In general, we were satisfied with the MFC-J6910DW's text print quality. Each letter came out consistently dark, be it large or small fonts. At an arm's length, jagged edges were hardly noticeable. Upon closer inspection, we observed slight smudging due to the interaction between the ink and the paper. Graphics also showed signs of cross-hatching and fuzziness, until we improved the quality setting (at the expense of print speed of course). When Fast (draft) mode was used, black text took on a lighter shade and stair-like jaggies were apparent due to the decrease in resolution.

All things considered, we ranked the MFC-J6910DW's document print quality at Normal mode to be reasonable for graphics, and just a hair short of very good for text.

As expected, copy quality was noticeably not as sharp and full-bodied as the originals.

Photo Print and Scan Quality

For photo print and scan quality evaluation, the outputs were compared against the reference prints we've on hand, as well as on a calibrated monitor.

As mentioned in the preceding paragraphs, the MFC-J6910DW's graphics performance during document printing was a tad below par. We also tried printing some photos using Brother's photo paper. At an arm's length, the consensus was that photo print quality was good, but not anything we've not seen before.

When placed side by side with our PhotoDisc target reference print, we noticed that Brother's version had a higher contrast and took on a slightly reddish cast. Upon closer inspection, we also noticed very fine dots and some color banding. The black and white photo test print also had blacks that weren't as dark and details that weren't as clear as those seen on the reference print.

Truth be told, we sort of expected all the above. After all, the MFC-J6910DW is not meant to be a dedicated, professional photo printer. Printers with an emphasis on photo printing usually come with at least five inks (the additional ink is usually a pigmented black ink). Like most printers/AIOs targeted for office use, the MFC-J6910DW has four.

Lastly, scan quality was deemed to be above average. In addition, we found that it had a tendency to overexpose details.